CHAPTER 27: Nightmare.

The man struggled to get out of Theo's grasp.

But the blue creature held onto him until he was certain that the blood had done its job.

At that point he threw the man against a wall and fled through the same window he had come out of. As he jumped out of said window and spread his wings to 'fly' over the first row of zombies he saw how the first few of these distorted monsters were already making their way towards the window.

He looked away and prepared himself for the impact with the ground. After that he ran out of the camp as fast as he could.

However, it didn't seem to be fast enough as one of the zombies had caught his tail and showed no interest in letting go.

Theo was forced to continue with the half rotting corpse hanging on his tail, as stopping now would allow more zombies to grab him. However, doing this gave the undead enough time to rip open a chunk of his tail.

When he was finally far enough to stop, he kicked the rotting creature in the face for a few times until it finally let go. Once it did, he crushed his neck after which he collapsed against a tree heavily panting and trembling all over. He scooted back from the monster and rested against the tree trunk.

He felt like he had to vomit, and it wasn't just because of the taste of the rotting blood that still lingered in his mouth.

He took a deep breath and tried to forget the desperate eyes of Johan. But despite his efforts he was sure that this was going to haunt him for a long time, maybe forever.

He kept worrying about if he was or wasn't dead by now. If he somehow managed to survive, Theo wouldn't be able to take it.

Or the fact that he didn't feel guilty about killing that man. Afterall, Johan was a father.

He shook his head as he tried to get rid of these thoughts. It was no use to think about this now. He shoved the thoughts to the back of his head, to think about it later. What his actions said about him could wait, he had to get back to the group and make sure that they would survive.

But first he wanted to take care of his wound.

But there wasn't a water source close by at the moment, as far as he knew. At least not one that he could smell right now. The stench of blood and smoke made it hard to locate anything.

He swallowed his pride and started to just lick the wound until the bleeding stopped. Once he was done, he made his way back to the group.

When he reached the bonfire, everyone immediately turned to look at his direction with fear. Though some seemed to be relieved when they saw that he was not an infected, others were looking at him suspiciously

He ignored the questioning gazes and nearly collapsed in front of the fire.

He suddenly felt something touching his wing. He was so startled that he jumped up with a fierce snarl, only to see that it was his mother who had now hastily retracted her hand and stared at him with a pale face.

He could also see how his father had his hand already hovering above a large stick.

Theo hastily looked away as he let his ears drop in shame. "Don't worry, I'm not going insane yet."

From the corner of his eyes, he could see how his father seemed to relax, yet his mother wasn't completely convinced.

"Theo, what did you just do?"

He slowly backed away on all fours. "I- I was just startled that's all. A lot happened today."

"I'm not asking about just now. I'm asking where you have been and what you have done."

Theo's heart nearly skipped a beat. "There was just one of those undead close by. I killed it but it got a good chunk out of my tail."

Lisa stretched out her arm towards Theo, but he only backed away further. "Sweety, I don't believe that just one of those things would have the chance to harm you that severely. What actually happened?"

"I was simply scared all right! Even if that place was terrible, it was safe and now we have nowhere to go. Not only that but I've spotted more stripes on my body and I have no idea what is going on."

He felt bad for leaving out a big part of the story, but he couldn't say that he had killed Johan in front of Tim. Not while the child was staring at him with wide eyes, unable to sleep.

Theo sighed and turned around.

He stared at Timon who was still passed out. For as far as Theo could tell he was not infected, but he wasn't quite sure. So, for the time being, he would keep an eye on him.

When he was certain that the people here wouldn't bother him anymore, he walked away and sat down next to the fire, where he curled up close to the flames and wrapped his wings around himself to shield him from the outside world.

He doubted that he would fall asleep any time soon. But he still wanted to rest a bit, he had to keep these people safe. He started to relax, as he listened to the fire and the worried murmurs of the humans surrounding him.

He felt a certain feeling of sorrow, but he had done what he thought best in the moment. He fell into an uneasy sleep, but his dreams were disturbed by the constant image of Johan, hanging in front of Theo's face with that frightened look in his eyes, and the screams followed Theo as he tried to run away.

The screams seemed to multiply, until they were all around Theo. He covered his ears, trying to ignore it. But every time he closed his eyes, Johan was there.

He bolted upright, panting heavily, due to the nightmare that scared him awake. Theo rubbed his eyes and tried to get his breathing back under control. Looking around the fire, everyone else seemed to be asleep still.

Sighing, he got up and walked around for a bit, trying to calm down, and cleanse his mind of the horrid images that he saw.

"Theo?" he heard someone saying softly on his left side. When he looked, he could vaguely make out the shape of his mother. "What happened sweetie, why are you up?" She asked in a whisper.

"It was nothing mom. Just a dream. Go back to sleep." Theo answered, hoping that his mother wouldn't continue her interrogation from earlier.

"Alright. I will let you be for now." Lisa said before lying down again.

"I know mom. Thanks." Theo said as he walked away again. Moving back to the small fire, he tossed another log on it, and laid down again.

After a while, he fell back into a dreamless sleep.